Ergonomic height adjustment and damping cups for running shoes

ABSTRACT

Running shoes are ergonomically enhanced with a damping sole under the toe-cap, that provokes a touch-down at the foot&#39;s ball first and consequently avoids, for less stress and fatigue, an unrolling motion of the foot. The soft cup may be made of leather, canvas, and/or little extensible soft plastics. The pins may be angled at 40° upwards along a main axis of the running shoe. A combined thickness of additional sole and the original sole at the tip of the running shoe may be equal to a total sole thickness of the original sole at a heel of the running shoe. The cup assembly may increase a height of the tip of the running shoe. The cup assembly may dampen an impact of a foot at the tip of the running shoe.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The system described herein relates to footwear, in particular running shoes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Running shoes are aimed at supporting the sportsman's legs during the run, partly for the best and easiest contract with the ground, but also to stabilize the foot against distracting or even detrimental twist in overpronation (buckling inwards) or supination (buckling outwards of the running axis).

Another major impact is to be seen as to rolling the foot along its main axis.

Hitherto the paradigm was to firstly touch the soil by the heel and then roll along the center line unto the toe cap, wherefrom to perform the general push ahead.

Therefore the development of sport shoes emphasized a thick heel, since the heel would touch the ground first and therefore to dampen the impact to the knee and other anatomy.

However, for a more pleasant running style it is preferred first to touch the ground on the forefoot and to prevent an impact on the heel, which affects ankle joint, knee and hip joint, together with the spinal column, whereas best damping of impacts is performed through calves and thighs.

To correct the latter it may be advisable to cut off the excess at the heel, which would reduce the damping or even destroy running shoes.

As a matter of fact, runners have their personal style and must be able to choose among different sole constructions, so to achieve best performance.

Correctives like contoured inlays proved to be of not too much avail in this respect.

Vendors solution to this is to sell different types of shoes to each customer and let him decide about the best fitting for his needs and to let him dispose the rest—since shoes can rather not be given for test some time nor traded in—which would be essential for to decide after necessarily extensive testing.

This of course is displeasing for the customer, who is forced to decide about each buy after a few test steps inside the shop and may lead to a pile of unwanted sneakers in his basement.

There are some prior propositions for attachment of additional soles to sport shoes, as in:

DE 10 2006 061 482 A1 There, however, the sole is held by elastically encasing the basic sole together with the additional sole without exchangeability.

DE 10 2010 053 316 A1 proposes additional protective cushions to be attached to sport shoes as a sub-shoe with elastic bands to be fastened above the shoes.

The problem might here be some kind of clumsiness as with all kinds of overshoes.

US 2016/0345661 A1 (applied for by Nike) proposes the fastening of a sole plate by locking it into recesses in a cavity in the basic sole “comprising one or more tabs extending from the perimeter towards the center of the cavity”—a method that is known from fixing cross-country ski or bicycle pedals to corresponding boots. Whether this would really be feasible with elastic sole plates remains to be seen.

Similar to US 2016/0345661, PCT /U585/01131, also registered as WO 86/ 04489, proposed in 1985 a fastening of soles or skiing equipment to one's foot, using a continuous groove within the outskirts of the original sole and an equivalent rigid key-type ridge to be locked within and some additional push-button type fasteners and a toe cap for fastening.

Moreover, CN 104114054A describes the locking of additional soles into the original sole by insertion of fixtures into recesses similarly to U.S. 2016/0345661 A1. However it may be questionable whether this might work with sport shoes. As known from skiing, these cavities might be clogged after a few steps, and if it is not snow, but mud in it, it will be worse for locking or releasing it.

Other patents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 1,360,228, aim at connecting possible replacement soles to the shoe body by hooks, U.S. Pat. No. 2,552,943 proposes an upper part of a ladies' shoe to be connected to an exchangeable base using a keyway in the latter and an insertable corded welting around the top, furthermore U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,072, where a variable Heel may be fixed to a base using the same method.

However, these three latter and quite a few similar proposed solutions would obviously not work with flexible sport shoes or sneakers.

It may be desirable to alter a shoe sole in a reversible way, in order to find out about the best-fitting balance between tip and heel thickness. However, it is not an easy task to fit parts onto the sole that need to be easily exchangeable, but must be firmly attached for a longer run, for example, to try out different gauges.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Described herein, in some embodiments, are running shoes that are ergonomically enhanced with a damping sole under the toe-cap of the running shoe, where the toe-cap may provoke a touch-down at the foot's ball first, thereby consequently avoiding an unrolling motion of the foot, resulting in less stress and fatigue of the foot.

Described herein is, in some embodiments, is a slip-over cap for holding a corrective sole at the tip, which may be further attached to the original sole with pins through itself and the original sole, for example, at an angle of approx. +40° off the longitudinal axis, while bending the shoe firmly along it.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of a running shoe and ergonomic cup assembly, and techniques in relation to same, will be discussed in more detail below on the basis of figures, which show illustrative embodiments. In the figures:

FIG. 1 is an illustrative embodiment of a running shoe, according to an embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

With reference to FIG. 1, in some embodiments of the system described herein, a running shoe 1 may be fitted with a soft covering cap 2 that contains an additional sole 4. The additional sole 4 may be a little thinner than the original sole 3, so that the gauge (i.e., thickness) on the forefoot 6 equals (or nearly equals) the thickness at the heel 7.

In some embodiments, a running shoe 1 may include an ergonomic cup assembly including the soft cup 2 fitted to a tip of the running shoe 1, and the additional sole 4 fitted within the soft cup. The ergonomic cup assembly may be affixed to the original sole 3 of the running shoe 1, for example, by pins 5 running through the soft cup 2 and the additional sole 4 into the original sole 3.

In some embodiments, the soft cup 2 is made of one of: leather, canvas, and little extensible soft plastics.

In some embodiments, the pins 5 are angled upwards at 40° along a main axis of the running shoe.

In some embodiments, a combined thickness 6 of the additional sole 4 and the original sole 3 at the tip of the running shoe is adjusted to be at least nearly the same as a total sole thickness 7 of the original sole 3 at a heel of the running shoe 1.

In some embodiments, the cup assembly increases a height of the tip of the running shoe 1 and/or dampens an impact of a foot at the tip of the running shoe 1.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the specification and/or an attempt to put into practice the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims. 

1. An ergonomic cup assembly for a running shoe, comprising: a soft cup arranged to be fitted to a tip of the running shoe; an additional sole fitted within the soft cup; and a plurality of pins running through the soft cup and the additional sole that affix the ergonomic cup assembly to an original sole of the running shoe.
 2. The ergonomic cup assembly according to claim 1, wherein the soft cup is made of one of: leather, canvas, and little extensible soft plastics.
 3. The ergonomic cup assembly according to claim 1, wherein the pins are angled at 40° upwards along a main axis of the running shoe.
 4. The ergonomic cup assembly according to claim 1, wherein a combined thickness of additional sole and the original sole at the tip of the running shoe is equal to a total sole thickness of the original sole at a heel of the running shoe.
 5. The ergonomic cup assembly according to claim 1, wherein the cup assembly increases a height of the tip of the running shoe.
 6. The ergonomic cup assembly according to claim 1, wherein the cup assembly dampens an impact of a foot at the tip of the running shoe.
 7. A running shoe comprising: an ergonomic cup assembly fitted to a tip of the running shoe, the ergonomic cup assembly including a soft cup and an additional sole fitted within the soft cup; and a plurality of pins affixing the ergonomic cup assembly to an original sole of the running shoe.
 8. The running shoe according to claim 7, wherein the soft cup is made of one of: leather, canvas, and little extensible soft plastics.
 9. The running shoe according to claim 7, wherein the pins are angled upwards at 40° along a main axis of the running shoe.
 10. The running shoe according to claim 7, wherein a combined thickness of the additional sole and the original sole at the tip of the running shoe is equal to a total sole thickness of the original sole at a heel of the running shoe.
 11. The running shoe according to claim 7, wherein the cup assembly increases a height of the tip of the running shoe.
 12. The running shoe according to claim 7, wherein the cup assembly dampens an impact of a foot at the tip of the running shoe.
 13. A method of modifying a running shoe, comprising: fitting an ergonomic cup assembly to a tip of the running shoe, the ergonomic cup assembly including a soft cup and an additional sole fitted within the soft cup; and affixing the ergonomic cup assembly to an original sole of the running shoe, including running a plurality of pins through the soft cup and the additional sole into the original sole.
 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the soft cup is made of one of: leather, canvas, and little extensible soft plastics.
 15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the pins are angled upwards at 40° along a main axis of the running shoe.
 16. The method according to claim 13, further comprising adjusting a thickness of the additional sole so that a combined thickness of the additional sole and the original sole at the tip of the running shoe is equal to a total sole thickness of the original sole at a heel of the running shoe.
 17. The method according to claim 13, wherein the cup assembly increases a height of the tip of the running shoe.
 18. The method according to claim 13, wherein the cup assembly dampens an impact of a foot at the tip of the running shoe. 